


(Not So) Secret Admirer

by Mischel



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Episode: s02e03 The Nightmare Begins, First Kiss, Flowers, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-15
Updated: 2016-05-15
Packaged: 2018-06-08 16:21:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6862783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mischel/pseuds/Mischel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin's done pretending that he doesn't love Arthur, and so he prepares a plan. Then, all of a sudden, Arthur receives flowers. Who might be his secret admirer? - Merthur, oneshot, starts with the scene in 2x03 The Nightmare Begins, when Merlin brings Morgana flowers, except the flowers are not for her and she isn't in the fanfic :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	(Not So) Secret Admirer

Merlin was done pretending that his feelings for Arthur were not romantic. He wanted the prince to know he was in love with him. He wanted him to know about his magic, he wanted Arthur to know everything about him. He desperately wanted the prince to just _know_ him.

And that's why he made a plan. He was going to go into Arthur's chamber when he knew the prince was on the training field, and he was going to put flowers he picked himself on Arthur's table. It was perfect. Arthur wouldn't know who it was from, he'd just know he had a secret admirer, which is exactly what Merlin was. He just wanted Arthur to know there was someone who liked him, despite his behavior and attitude sometimes.

So Merlin went to the meadow behind Camelot, next to a lake and sat down by the water. There were dozens of beautiful flowers and he had no idea which ones to give Arthur.

There were purple ones, yellow, red, blue, pink... so many colors. Merlin smiled and went to pick the pink ones with some white ones as well. Then he returned to Camelot and headed to the prince's chambers to complete his brilliant plan.

Do you think it will work?

xoXOXox

Arthur was about to go to his training session with knights. He was just returning from his chambers, and he wondered where Merlin was. His chainmail desperately needed cleaning and the idiot was nowhere to be found. As usual.

Arthur was just about to turn around the corner, when he spotted Merlin and stopped. "Ah, Merlin." He said as Merlin put his hands behind his back quickly. "I need you- to..." Arthur stopped and went closer to his servant, looking at him suspiciously. Merlin was weird. Something was wrong, he just knew it. Merlin just looked at him innocently. "What are you hiding behind your back?" Arthur asked, coming even closer to him.

"Nothing," Merlin laughed nervously. "See?" He showed Arthur both his hands. They were empty, but there was still something wrong about this whole situation.

"What are you up to?" Arthur asked and quickly went to Merlin, wanting to look behind his back, but Merlin turned around, and practically changed their positions, so Arthur still didn't see anything.

"Nothing, honestly," Merlin said while turning around, smiling. "Arthur, I would never lie to you." He continued and Arthur frowned. "I respect you far to much for that." Okay, this was _nothing_ like Merlin, since when did he respect Arthur?

Both Merlin and Arthur were silent. Arthur was still frowning, not sure if he was mistaken or if Merlin was lying to him.

"You wanted me to do something." Merlin suddenly said, changing the subject.

"My chainmail needs cleaning." Arthur said, not looking away from Merlin's eyes.

"Oh," Merlin looked down. "Well, I'll see to it right away." He smiled and looked at Arthur again. Merlin kept smiling like an idiot, obviously wanting to get away from the prince as soon as possible.

Arthur almost turned away to go to meet his knights finally, but Merlin made the exact move, making Arthur stop. The prince looked at his servant again, still not sure what to think. Merlin smiled at him as if nothing happened and Arthur was just behaving ridiculous.

Finally Arthur slowly turned away, and headed to the stairs. Then he quickly turned around one last time and then he saw it. He knew it! He wasn't dumb, Merlin was lying to him! He was hiding... flowers?

Why the hell would Merlin need flowers? No girl in Camelot would ever want to even think about Merlin that way, that idiot was just going to embarrass himself. Again.

Arthur rolled his eyes and finally continued down the stairs to train his knights.

xoXOXox

It was two hours later when Arthur returned. He opened the door to his chambers, expecting to see Merlin cleaning his chainmail. He had to use his second one for the training, his favorite one was too dirty.

As he expected, Merlin was standing beside his table, his chainmail and a rag in hands, cleaning it. Arthur smiled to himself. At least for once Merlin actually followed his orders. But then his smile faded in the next second. The table. A vase. _Flowers._

The same flowers he saw Merlin hiding behind his back two hours ago. There were pink and white ones and they were in a blue vase on the table, next to Merlin, who was acting as if he didn't see them, or as if it was nothing unusual. Arthur wanted to mock Merlin and ask him where were his flowers because he knew the idiot must have given them to someone. But that it might be him? That _never_ even crossed his mind, not once.

"Arthur?" Merlin asked. "Are you alright?" He asked, still cleaning the chainmail. Arthur cleared his throat and went to the table, looking directly at the flowers.

"Merlin, look at these beautiful flowers someone gave me." Arthur smiled, finally getting to mock Merlin about it. He waited for Merlin's reaction, but the boy just looked at the vase and smiled.

"Perhaps a secret admirer?" He said. Arthur chuckled.

"I don't think so..." He said and went behind the dressing screen to change his clothes. He was sweating a lot at the training session with knights. He needed Merlin to do the laundry sometime soon.

"Why not?" Merlin asked. "Morgana gets flowers all the time, why shouldn't you?" He pointed out.

"I highly doubt a _girl_ would get me flowers, usually it's men who are supposed to give their lady flowers to show their affection." Arthur mumbled from behind the screen as he pulled a shirt over his head.

"Well, if you want to indicate you're a lady-"

"Merlin, what have we said about you trying to be funny?" Arthur asked, looking at his servant from behind the screen.

"I shouldn't." Merlin smiled at him. Arthur nodded and rolled his eyes as he stepped out from behind the dressing screen. He was shirtless, and he wanted to see what Merlin's reaction would be. If the flowers were from him (which of course they were), then Merlin must have liked him. In _that_ way.

"Where's my shirt, Merlin?" Arthur asked, looking at his manservant. Merlin looked up at Arthur, looking at his bare torso for less than half a second and immediately going to the closet to give Arthur his new shirt, well, that was after he blushed slightly. As Merlin turned around, Arthur smirked.

Yes, the flowers were definitely from his useless toad of a servant.

"I just wanted to say," Merlin continued as he handed Arthur a new and clean red shirt. "That girls can give flowers to the man they like too. There's nothing wrong with that." Merlin said.

Arthur almost replied _don't be such a girl Merlin,_ but that might make Merlin stop bringing him flowers. So he just took the shirt Merlin offered him. "Shut up," he said. "And do the laundry, I have no clean socks to wear."

"I don't think you even know _where_ are your socks, but-"

" _Mer_ lin," Arthur said as he went back behind the dressing screen to change his trousers. "Just do it."

"Yes, sire." Merlin replied and took the basket for laundry from the floor. Then he left the prince's chambers, humming under his breath.

xoXOXox

It's been a week and Arthur wasn't wrong. The flowers really were from Merlin, and the manservant kept bringing them to Arthur's chambers literally every day. It always made Arthur smile and feel loved, and also realize that Merlin might not be the only one who felt that way.

More and more often he found himself staring at Merlin when his friend wasn't looking. The dark hair and cheekbones, beautiful blue eyes... he never thought he'd think about this word when he thought about Merlin, but he couldn't stop thinking about the word _beautiful._

What was wrong with him?

Well, at least he knew the flowers were from Merlin, he almost caught the boy in the act yesterday! He was just about to go into his chambers, when he saw Merlin going there too, from the other side of the hall. He saw the flowers in Merlin's hands, and he had nowhere else to go than to hide in his chambers. He didn't want Merlin to know he knew about him bringing the flowers.

So he quickly went inside and hid in the antechambers. He cracked open the door so he could see what was Merlin doing with at least one eye, and then Merlin finally opened the door and entered the prince's chambers.

At first he put the flowers behind his back and looked around. "Arthur?" He called, but Arthur was silent. Then Merlin smiled widely and put the vase on the table. It was the same vase, the blue one. Merlin put there the flowers, rearranging it a little bit so it looked good enough for the prince and then he smiled to himself again.

Arthur carefully breathed in and out as he saw the flowers. Today, they were purple and blue, with a little bit of yellow in the middle. Merlin must have picked them himself, Arthur knew where he could find such flowers. It was near the lake. He smiled.

Merlin really cared about him. Now the only question was: did Arthur care about Merlin too? Of course he did. He might not say it out loud, but he grew fond of his servant since he had to give him the job. But the real question was: did Arthur _like_ Merlin the same way Merlin obviously liked Arthur?

At first Arthur would say _no, of course not._ But then he knew he'd regret his answer. He knew it would not be the truth, because in some way... he did _like_ his manservant. He just wasn't sure if it was in _that same_ way. Okay, maybe it was, he just needed a proof. He needed see his own reaction.

xoXOXox

The right time was when Arthur went to Gaius' quarters, a few days later. He looked around, looking for the old physician. He needed an ointment, or bandage or something for a deep scratch he got at the training from Leon. He told the knight to not go easy on him and to fight as if Arthur really was a bandit. Yeah, he probably shouldn't have done that. He was better than Leon, but Leon was older and he managed to scratch Arthur's forearm, and now it was bleeding.

He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Merlin in the corner of the room, standing in front of a big bowl of water, topless. He was dirty all over, probably had just mocked out the stables and haven't had the chance to wash yet. He didn't notice Arthur yet, so he took a cloth, wetting it and washing his chest.

Arthur swallowed and blushed. Not a reaction he was expecting, but it confirmed the answer to his question.

"Arthur?" Merlin said in a very high-pitched voice. "I didn't- I didn't know you were coming, um... why are you here?" He asked. Arthur cleared his throat.

"I know it's late, but the training with knights just ended and I needed Gaius to check my forearm." Arthur said.

"Well, Gaius isn't here." Merlin said then, continuing in washing his chest. He was still blushing a lot, but did his best to hide his embarrassment.

"Where is he?" Arthur asked. He really needed him to look at his wound. He didn't want to bleed on his pillow at night. It didn't bleed much, but it still did.

"Um, he's in the Lower Town." Merlin answered. "He had to check on one patient, who's very ill." Arthur nodded and Merlin looked down. He hesitantly took his shirt and put it on, probably deciding to continue washing later.

"And do you know when will he return?" Arthur asked then. Merlin smiled.

"Well, not for another hour at least." Then he frowned. "What happened?" He asked, already going closer to Arthur.

"Um, it's nothing, just a scratch." Arthur said, taking a step back. But it was too late, Merlin saw the blood on his sleeve.

"God, Arthur, you're bleeding!" Merlin said and took Arthur's hand, trying to look at the injury.

"It's nothing, it's-"

"Sit down." Merlin ordered. Arthur looked at his servant unbelievingly, but didn't sit down.

"Did you just give me an order, Merlin?" He asked. Merlin stopped for a minute and looked at Arthur.

"Er.. maybe?" He smiled nervously. Arthur finally sat down.

"Feels good, does it?" He asked, still looking at Merlin.

"It's not... unpleasant." Merlin answered and smiled when he finally found what he was looking for. He turned to Arthur with a clean cloth in one hand and a strange, disgustingly green ointment-like potion in the other. Arthur paled.

"I think it would be better if I waited for Gaius, it doesn't even hurt that much, it was just a-"

"Nonsense." Merlin said and took Arthur's hand. He rolled his sleeve up to finally look at the _scratch_ and frowned. "I need to clean it." He said and went to the corner of the room for fresh water. He had brought some with him on his way home. Then he took the cloth, put it into the water and began cleaning Arthur's forearm, looking very serious.

Arthur couldn't help but stare at Merlin. But his manservant sensed it and looked up, so Arthur just smiled slightly and looked at his forearm. He didn't lie. It didn't even hurt much.

Then Merlin took the suspicious green ointment and carefully put it on Arthur's wound. Arthur didn't wince when it started to hurt a little. When it was done, Merlin finally bandaged Arthur's forearm and smiled at the nice result.

"Feeling satisfied yet?" Arthur chuckled and Merlin blushed.

"A bit." He replied as he turned around and took the ointment. That was when Gaius entered his quarters and raised an eyebrow at what he saw.

"Is everything alright, sir?" He asked. Arthur turned to him.

"Oh, yeah." The prince answered. "Leon hit me with a sword a bit during the training, but Merlin took care of it."

"That's what I was worried about." Gaius answered and smiled.

"Yeah, me too, actually." Arthur muttered and Merlin cleared his throat.

"I'm still in the room if you didn't know." He said. Gaius laughed and then came closer to his ward.

"What did you use?" He asked him.

"Um, I cleaned it and put this on it." Merlin told him and showed him the little bottle of green potion. Gaius just nodded silently, smiling a bit. "Why are you home so early?" Merlin asked then.

"The man I had to visit was feeling much better and didn't need anything else from me. I thought he wouldn't recover that quickly." Gaius answered.

"Merlin!" Arthur called his servant's name and Merlin looked at him. "I don't need anything else from you today, but tomorrow make sure that my sword is sharpened enough for training, that my chainmail and chambers are clean and mock out the stables." He said.

"But I mocked out the stables an hour ago!" Merlin complained.

"Well, then do it again and add the laundry to your list of chores for tomorrow, too." Arthur replied and turned to the door. Merlin just groaned."Bye Gaius!" He said and finally left the room.

That was it. He knew now how he felt now, he didn't need more proofs. He knew he liked Merlin just like Merlin liked him, and he decided to do something about it. That's why he told Merlin to do so many chores tomorrow. He needed to keep him occupied long enough for him to successfully complete his plan. And he couldn't wait to see Merlin's face after all of this was over.

xoXOXox

Seriously, sometimes Merlin wondered why did he bother with that prat at all. He clearly didn't care about the flowers, nor Merlin. He didn't even ask who they were from! What if Merlin saw someone putting them in Arthur's room, huh? Arthur just didn't care, he didn't want to know who they were from. He didn't even ask if they were from Gwen! He just smiled when he saw them and then ignored them.

Merlin didn't know if he should bring Arthur another flowers tomorrow. It seemed so pointless all of a sudden, and it was possible that he wouldn't even have time to go to the meadow again. Merlin helped Arthur with his injury, and what did he get? Any thanks? Of course not, no gratitude, just a list of chores that would take him the whole day to do.

The next day, Merlin sighed as he wiped his forehead with the sleeve of his tunic. It was evening and he was still cleaning Arthur's chambers. The good thing was that Arthur was nowhere in sight, so he used magic a bit. He made sure no one could see it from the door of course, and used it only behind the bed and around the corner, near the antechambers. He really didn't need anyone to burst in and find out he was a sorcerer, the least of all Arthur.

He sighed loudly when he finally finished and stood up. He looked around and nodded, smiling. At least it felt good after Arthur's chambers were cleaned and all shiny.

Then he left and finally went home.

When he entered Gaius' quarters, it was quiet. The physician must have gone to the Lower Town again, Merlin thought. He shrugged and went up the stairs, opening the door to his little room.

He gasped.

On his bed were flowers, the same he's been giving Arthur the past two weeks. It wasn't in any vase, but they were beautiful. There was red and blue, just like Merlin's clothes, and a little bit of white in the middle. Merlin smiled and closed the door behind him. He held the flower up to his nose and sniffed. They smelled beautiful.

Someone cleared his throat behind him and Merlin quickly turned around, startled. But then he relaxed when he saw it was Arthur. He smiled at his prince.

"Did you really think I didn't know they were from you?" Arthur smiled and went closer to his manservant. Merlin didn't take a step back.

"So you did like them?" Merlin asked, hope in his voice.

"Every one of them." Arthur smiled and finally closed the distance between them, putting his palm on Merlin's cheek, tangling his fingers in his dark black hair. Merlin blushed again and looked at Arthur's lips, making Arthur smile. Then the prince finally leaned in and kissed Merlin, his servant, his best friend, and his _love_.

And what do you think now? Did Merlin's plan work?

**Author's Note:**

> So what do you think? :D


End file.
